Shin Bet Nabs Kahane Chai Members Suspected of a Bombing Last Year

July 14, 1993

JERUSALEM (Jul. 13)

Shin Bet security agents and police have arrested four right-wing activists of the Kahane Chai movement, all minors, on suspicion of carrying out a bombing in Jerusalem’s Old City last year, in which one Arab was killed and 10 others were wounded.

The four, all 17, allegedly exploded a hand grenade in the middle of the Arab butchers market in the Old City, reportedly to avenge the murder of their leader Rabbi Meir Kahane almost three years ago.

Police did not release the names of the arrested youths because they are minors.

One suspect, the group’s leader, was arrested this week in the West Bank settlement of Tapuah, near Nablus. The other three were detained in a Jerusalem apartment which had served as their headquarters.

Police said three of the detainees confessed to the attack. They said they had formed a “Revenge Patrol” to avenge the death of their leader.

A few days before the actual attack, they stole a hand grenade from an army truck. They carefully chose the site of the attack, entering a building and breaking the windows.

Several days later, two youths threw the hand grenade into the busy crowd in the market, fatally wounding Abdul Razek Adkayek and in and injuring 10 others.

It took the security forces eight months to uncover the ring and detain its participants.